A Compleat Map of North Carolina
When Swiss-born captain John Abraham Collet arrived in North Carolina in 1767 to take the command of Fort Johnston on the Cape Fear River, he became well-liked by Governor Tryon, and was entrusted in 1768 to take Churton’s large manuscript draft of the North Carolina map to England. That manuscript is now in the Public Record Office. Tryon commissioned Collet to continue work on the map.
When he returned to North Carolina, Collet continued to collect information, adding valuable data relating to roads and settlements in the western region of the colony as well as maritime markings. Note the inclusion of the Moravian towns in the Wachovia tract. (Information compiled from Williams P. Cumming, NORTH CAROLINA IN MAPS).
In the records of the Moravians for 1773 Friedrich William Marshall reported:
“About the middle of September a letter came from our dear Governor, and with it a map of this province, which we had long tried to secure but without success. He had finally found one, and sent it to us as a gift. If our Representative goes to Newbern this month to the Assembly that will be our best opportunity for thanking him, and for sending him a map of this County showing the line recently tun between Rowan and Surry.”